Episode 513 - 3 Chefs Compete
The thirteenth episode of Season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX, on April 30, 2009. On that episode, the final three had their dishes judged by some of Los Angeles' top chefs, and during dinner service, Ramsay tested their abilities on the pass to see who should move to the finals. Intro During the recap of the previous episode, Ben received the coat hanging and burning picture sequence for the first time since his elimination. Continuing from the last episode, Ramsay had a surprise for the final three and much to their excitement, it was their loved ones. Paula received visit from her mother and sister, Andrea’s mother and cousin visited her, and Danny’s father and girlfriend came over. The chefs happily reunite with their loved ones, which sparked back their motivation. Eventually, the loved ones left, and the final three headed back to the dorms while celebrating the fact that they were very close to the end. Individual challenge The next morning, the recharged chefs came downstairs to meet Ramsay, who congratulated them for being the three best chefs of the sixteen that entered. For their next challenge, Ramsay said that they would be cooking lunch to 100 special guests that he invited, though he did not say who they were. They would had control of what they wanted to cook, and were given 90 minutes to cook 100 portions, with the person who would end up with the most votes at the end would be declared the winner. The chefs went into their kitchens to cook their dishes, and all of them were confident in their creations. In the confessionals, both Danny and Paula knew that their biggest rival was each other, while dismissing Andrea for being flustered when the chips were down as she was starting to slow down during the last 10-minute mark. When the time ran out, Ramsay revealed that the people they would be serving were some of the best chefs in Los Angeles. While the three chefs got nervous about serving their dishes to some of the best chefs in Los Angeles, they went ahead with serving their dishes. Once everyone was seated, the chefs plated their dishes as Jean-Philippe and the waiting staff served them. Andrea's dish was a chicken roulade pejuit with micro basil and garlic, Paula's was an olive oil poached sturgeon with crispy potatoes, crème fresh and a salad, and Danny’s was a lightly blackened halibut with mango-peach salsa and basmati rice. After serving their dishes, the professional chefs tasted the dishes and voted for their favorite dish, and their least favorite. After all the votes were tallied and counted, Ramsay revealed that over 76% thought that Danny's dish was the worst, much to his shock and dismay. After, Ramsay revealed that Paula was the winner with her dish getting over 76% of the votes. Reward Paula got a full Hollywood makeover and a special surprise that would be revealed the next day. Paula rode in a limousine with Jean-Philippe and spoke with her on their personal life. Paula got a haircut, manicure, and pedicure during her trip, which gave her a big confidence boost. The next morning, Paula and Ramsay left in a limousine, with Ramsay revealing that they were going to a live taping of Good Day LA for a cooking demo, much to Paula's excitement. On live TV, Paula and Ramsay did a cooking demo for a salad. Punishment Danny and Andrea had to clean the dining room up and reset it for their next service the following night, while having to participate in Laundry Day. Danny was disappointed in his loss as he was a strong front-runner until then, and Andrea noting she had never seen Danny like that before. During the punishment, Danny's negative attitude continued as Andrea thought she could use that to her advantage. However, Danny knew he had to pick himself back from that loss. The next morning, Jean-Philippe revealed that their second punishment was to clean the front entrance way and during their cleaning, they saw Paula and Ramsay on live TV, which made them a little jealous, but congratulated her when she came back. Before service Later that day, the final three came into the red kitchen and began prep for their biggest dinner service yet. All three of them prepped without problems and were confident for that night’s service. Once everything was prepped, Ramsay had the three chefs lined up, and reminded them how big that service was as only two would be moving on to the finals. Ramsay also announced he would be letting the chefs have a turn up on the pass to show how well their leadership skills were. After, Ramsay told Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen. Dinner service For that service, Sous Chefs Scott and Gloria worked with the chefs in order to fill up the missing spots. Ramsay took the first few orders, and Paula and Andrea were able to get their appetizers out. Paula was the first one to run the pass and was urged to push the food out. She stumbled on the first ticket due to nerves, but managed to pick it back up. However, what Paula did not know was that Sous Chef Gloria sent up her first quality control test by sending up a squash purée instead of a carrot purée. Paula failed to notice the mistake and Ramsay urged her to take it more seriously. Her next quality control test came when Sous Chef Scott sent up a spinach soup instead of a water crest soup, but Paula managed to correctly spot the mistake. She continued her strong leadership up on the pass, and most of the appetizers were sent out to the dining room. Danny was the next one to run the pass, with Ramsay urging him to run the kitchen. Despite being confident in his abilities, Danny nearly froze on the first ticket and did not notice a missing time mark that Jean-Philippe did not put on, until Ramsay told him about it. He also struggled on plating the dishes, which slowed momentum down, but he did manage to reject Andrea's overcooked scallops. But, he failed to notice that Sous Chef Gloria sent up raw potatoes until Ramsay pointed it out. Despite these problems, Danny picked it up near the end and got more vocal, leading to more food being sent out to the dining room. Andrea was the last one to run the pass, with Ramsay telling her to run the brigade. Andrea was immediately vocal with everyone, which caused food to leave the kitchen at a fast pace. Her first quality control test came when Sous Chef Scott sent up halibut instead of John Dory, and she failed to notice it until Ramsay told her. Determined not to let that mistake happen again, Andrea became more nit-picky with everyone’s dishes, and managed to anger Sous Chef Scott because of it, almost considering punching her in the face. After Ramsay took back the control of the pass, much to Sous Chef Scott's relief, the rest of the chefs got their last tables out without any problems. Post-mortem After clearing down, Ramsay asked the chefs what was different about him, and while the chefs took a while to figure it out, they realized that he was smiling as they had a great service. Despite confirming that they were the final three based on their skills as chefs, one of them would still be going home that night. Then, Ramsay asked the three chefs to think of one person each that should not be in the finals, before dismissing them. Back in the dorms, Andrea said that Danny should be going home due to his poor performance up on the pass, but Danny argued that Andrea should be going home as she did more nit-picking than leading that night and for having more poor performances than him. While Paula was relieved to have not been chosen by either of them, it left her with a tough choice on who she would send home. Elimination Andrea voted for Danny because of his nervous performance on the pass, while Danny voted for Andrea due to the fact she did not perform strongly in the competition compared to himself. Then, Paula voted for Andrea due to her struggling in past services and exhibiting overconfidence up on the pass. Ramsay told Paula that she was definitely in the final two before asking Andrea and Danny on why they should join Paula in the finals. Andrea said that she had assertiveness and passion, while Danny said that cooking is the only thing he wanted to do with his life. After much thinking, Ramsay eliminated Andrea, but praised her for being a determined fighter, which he said was a big aspect of any kitchen. During her exit interview, Andrea received a retrospective montage of her run. After Andrea left, Ramsay congratulated Danny and Paula for making it to the final two and revealed that their biggest test would begin at the moment, ending the episode on a cliffhanger. Ramsay gave no comment on Andrea's elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and burning picture sequence. Category:Season 5 Category:Episodes